Riding an 18-game winning streak against the MAC that dates back to the 1998-1999 season, the Ohio State men’s basketball team (5-0) welcomed the Western Michigan Broncos to the Schott Thursday night for a late night, non-conference battle. Favored by 27.5 points leading into the game, the Buckeyes jumped out to an early double-digit lead by getting baskets from six different players before the under-12 media timeout.

Ohio State jumped out to an 18-8 lead by the time the second media timeout rolled around at the 11:31 mark of the first half. Jake Diebler decided to start working in the bench early on Thursday, with both Colin White and Gabe Cupps scoring buckets early in the first half.

The Buckeyes authored a 23-2 run late in the second half to leave no doubt about the result of this one, taking a 49-24 lead into the locker room at halftime. Every active player scored in the first half for Ohio State except for Ivan Njegovan, who still had four rebounds, one assist, and one block. Mobley led all scorers with 10 first-half points on 4-of-7 shooting.

Ohio State held Western Michigan to 26.7% shooting in the first half, and at one point kept them off the scoreboard for over five minutes of game time at one point. The Buckeyes continue to get better and better on the defensive end after giving up 102 in the season opener.

A Gabe Cupps three-pointer with 11:57 remaining in the game gave Ohio State the biggest lead it had all night, 73-30. Ohio State did not take anything for granted on Thursday night, continuing to put pressure on Western Michigan and not easing up on the visitors one bit even as the lead grew bigger and bigger. The Buckeyes won big Thursday, with the count standing at 91-58 when the final horn went off just after 10 p.m.

The Buckeyes were always going to win this game, the only question was how quickly they’d pull away and put the Broncos in the grave. On Thursday, it took about 11 minutes, when John Mobley Jr.‘s three-pointer from the corner put Ohio State up 25-12. Ohio State didn’t look back from there, and now the Buckeyes are 5-0 for the first time since the 2020-2021 season.

Rather than rehash every play of a 33-point blowout, here are a few things we noticed during Ohio State’s fifth win of the season that should give fans optimism for the team moving forward:

John Mobley Jr. hitting shots that aren’t three-pointers

Mobley came into Thursday night’s game really struggling when shooting inside the three-point line, having hit just one of his last 11 shots from inside the arc. On the season, he was shooting 21% on two-point tries.

Mobley got busy early on Thursday, dropping in a three-pointer for Ohio State’s first made basket of the game 1:22 into the contest. Each of his next two baskets were two-point shots — the first was a tough reverse layup through traffic to put Ohio State up 9-4, and the second was a short baseline jumper about six minutes later that made it 20-12.

The sophomore guard’s best weapon will always be his three-point shot, and statistically he gets better the deeper back he shoots from. But to be a reliable scorer, teams need to at least believe that you’re capable of attacking the basket on occasion. Thursday was a step in the right direction for Mobley, who varied his shot selection while also driving, kicking out, and racking up a few early assists.

Mobley finished the game with 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Ironically, he was 2-for-7 from three-point range and 4-for-5 on two-point tries. He had two assists and one turnover in 28 minutes.

Brandon Noel scoring early after a goose egg against Notre Dame

Not that you can make any sweeping conclusions from one game in a 35-game season, but Noel not taking any shots or scoring any points against Notre Dame on Sunday didn’t exactly assuage the concern that the sixth-year senior may not transition smoothly from the Horizon League to the Big Ten.

Like Mobley, Noel got busy early against Western Michigan, scoring on two of Ohio State’s first six possessions of the game. The first came on a self-made dunk, where Noel dribbled from the far baseline to the basket and slammed it home with two hands to make it 7-2. Three possessions later, Devin Royal found a cutting Noel for another easy dunk to put Ohio State up 11-4 just over five minutes into the game.

Through five games, Noel has looked like a smart cutter — someone who moves around the floor with purpose when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands. Taking no shots against Notre Dame felt odd, but Ohio State didn’t excel on offense in that game, and it’s looking more like a one-off than a trend.

Noel finished with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting in 21 minutes.

Despite playing some inferior opponents to start the season (aside from Notre Dame) Ohio State did not really put any of their games out of reach by halftime until Thursday.

The Buckeyes had a 16-point lead on IU Indy at halftime of the season opener, but allowed them to creep back in during the second half and there was never really a point during that game where the Jaguars felt completely out of it.

Ohio State had a 15-point halftime lead against Purdue Fort Wayne, but the Mastodons clawed back in the second half — the Buckeyes lead was cut to just seven points with about 12 minutes left in that game.

Appalachian State came into the Schott last week and was leading Ohio State for the majority of the first half, but a 13-0 run to end the half put Ohio State up five points at halftime.

That’s not how it went o Thursday night against Western Michigan. After WMU scored six straight points to cut Ohio State’s lead to 18-12 with 10:58 remaining in the half, the Buckeyes went on a 23-2 run over the next seven-plus minutes to take a 41-14 lead over the visiting Broncos. Ohio State made it worse in the second half, stretching their lead to 40 points with 10:52 remaining. It was a blowout, and Ohio State left no doubt.

Gabe Cupps is a psycho in the best way

Through five games, it’s become clear that Gabe Cupps has fully embraced his role with Ohio State. The redshirt sophomore from Centerville has become the first guard off the bench, backing up whichever of Bruce Thornton or Mobley needs a break first. He came into Thursday night’s game averaging just under 20 minutes per game, averaging two shot attempts per game and three points per game.

He has a unique handshake he does with every starter on the team when lineups are introduced, including a handshake with Noel that quickly turns into the two holding their backs and painfully walking in opposite directions, poking fun at his soon-to-be 24-year old teammate.

Cupps has also become Ohio State’s best on-ball defender, showing some Aaron Craft-like qualities while also screaming and clapping like he just shotgunned a Red Bull before taking the floor. Even on Thursday night, with Ohio State up 40 points and about 10 minutes remaining in the game, Cupps was screaming and clapping in the face of Western Michigan’s Jalen Griffith. Cupps picked up two reach-in fouls and one blocking foul on Thursday night, all while trying to make gritty defensive plays.

Cupps finished with five points on 2-of-3 shooting in 14 minutes. He had two assists, two steals, and hit one of his two three-point tries.

Devin Royal’s double-double

He may not be 100% back to normal yet as he recovers from what Diebler called a “nagging hip injury”, but Royal felt good enough Thursday night to register his first double-double of the season, finishing with exactly 10 points and 10 rebounds. He was 3-for-7 shooting, and was 4-for-4 at the free throw line in 22 minutes.

It would make a lot of sense for Ohio State to ease Royal back into full-time minutes as he recovers from the lower body injury, but the fact that he was good enough Thursday night to grab 10 rebounds was a good sign for his health and Ohio State’s success moving forward.